Operating means for printing presses



Dec. 29,1925 i,568,0l5

' J. A. WILLIAMS ET AL OPERATING MEANS FOR PRINTING PRESSES Fil ed Markn 16, 1925 s Sheets-Sheet 1 id; g6. .39 3- J6 INVENTOR Jose in $7. Willianw g0 uzwillianuli.

' ATTORNEXS J. A. WILLIAMS Er AL OPERATING msmus Fox PRINTING PRESSES Dec. 29,1925- 1,568,015

Filed March 16, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 lNvENTpR Josepha]. Willlam J ly; Willianu'ir.

ATTORNEYS Dec. 29,1925 1,568,015

, J. A. WILLIAMS ET AL OPERATING MEANS FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed March 1 6, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTQR Q .706? 1705i Wi I I figzn wtllianuk ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 29, 1925.

UNITED STATES PArEN'r QFFIQE.

JOSEPH A. WILLIAMS AND JOHN WILLIAMS, B,. OF BELLEVILLE, NEW JERSEY.

OPERATING MEANS FQR PRINTING PRESSES.

Ipplication filed March 16, 1925; Serial No. 15,923.

' Operating Means for Printing Presses, of

which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to operating means for printing presses and more specifically to an apparatus constituting a powertransmitting means to operate a press of the D roller typ An object of the invention is to provide an apparatus or means of this character which may be coupled to any ordinary press and which causes the press to start from rest and gradually accelerates the motion until the card or material to be worked is in operative position under the roll and then functions to directly connect the roll with a source of power so as to continue the operation at the desired speed.

A further object is to provide an apparatus of the character stated in which the first application of power imparted to the press is caused by the downward movement of a member due to gravity which beginning slowly increases its momentum until at a predetermined point direct connection 1s provided between the roll of the press and the power shaft to continue and complete the operation.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combination and arrangements of parts which will be more fully hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure 1 is a view in elevation illustrating our improved operating means or apparatus connected to a printing press;

Figure 2 is a view in longitudinal section on an enlarged scale, showing the clutch mechanism of the apparatus;

Figure 3 is a view in end elevation of the apparatus shown at the left of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a view in vertical section, partly broken away, the view being taken on the line 4-4 of, Figure 1;

Figure 5 is an enlarged section taken Figure 6 is. a new in side le ation f the apparatus illustrated at the right of Figure 1;

Figures 7 8, 9, 10 and 11 are views illustrating various details of construction.

1 represents the supporting framework of a printing press and 2 the supporting framework of our improved apparatus. The framework 1 constitutes a part of the ordinary well known type D roller press which is in common use and which need not be described in detail except to point out the operation thereof.

This type of press is provided with a movable plank 2' on which the engraved plate 3 and card 4 are supported. The plank 2 is made with a dog 5 which is engaged by a nose 7 011 a D roller 8. This roller 8 is fixed to a shaft 9 and when this shaft 9 is turned in the proper direction it will move the plank under the same and print in the ordinary manner.

The plank 2 is turned to its normal position by a weighted flexible member 10 when the flat or cut-off portion of the roller 8 is in position to permit this. Ordinarily, the shaft 9 is turned by a series of levers constituting a large spider, these levers or arms being manually operated, and it is the pur pose of my invention to dispense with this manually operating member and provide an automatically operating device or apparatus, such as indicated to the ieft in Figure l.

The frame 2 above referred to supports at its upper end a shaft 12 which is connected by suitable universal joints or other means 13 with the shaft 9 so as to allow a certain amount of adjustment of the roll 8, which is necessary in accordance with the thickness of the plate or material to be printed.

The shaft 12 is supported in alinement with a drive shaft 14 and is spaced therefrom by thrust roller bearings 15. I refer to the shaft 14 as a drive shaft as it is the direct driving means for the shaft 12, but as a matter of fact is driven by a motor 16 which imparts a continuous rotary motion thereto as long as the motor is operating.

As a power transmitting mechanism between the motor and the shaft 14 I employ a worm 17 on the motor shaft 18 which meshes with a worm wheel 19 on a shaft 20. This shaft 20 carries a sprocket wheel 21, and an endless chain 22 connects the sprocket wheel 21 with a sprocket wheel 23 fixed t the sh 4. i

A clutch member 24 is secured to shaft l-l and a sliding clutch member 25 is keyed to a sleeve 26, loose 011 shaft 12. This clutch member 25 is manually operated by a lever 27 connected to a bracket 28 on the frame 2 so that power from the motor may be disconnected manually at any time desired.

The sleeve 26 carries a clutch member 29 which is adapted to be engaged by a clutch member 30 on a sleeve 31, the latter keyed to slide on the shaft 12. A coil spring 32 is located around shaft 12 and interposed between the clutch members 29 and 30 so as to hold the clutch members normally apart. I

This sleeve 31 at its end farthest removed from the clutch member 30 is formed with a flange 33, one end of which constitutes a cam 34: which is adapted to ride against the cam face 35 of a fixed cam 36 to force the sleeve 31 in a direction to bring the clutch member 30 into locked engagement with the clutch member 29.

On this sleeve 31 a toothed wheel 37 is fixed and a housing 39 encloses the toothed wheel and is mounted to turn on sleeve 31. A tubular arm 40 is screwed into a threaded opening 41 in housing 39, and on this arm 40 a weight 42 is mounted and may be adjusted longitudinally of the arm by means of a pin which is projected through the weight and through any of a series of open- 'ings 4 1- in the arm.

The arm 40 provides at its free end pivotal mounting for a pair of hand levers 3S and 45, respectively. These levers project through slots in the arm and at their inner ends are connected by rods 46 and 47 with pawls 4S and l9, respectively.

These pawls 48 and l9 are both adapted to engage the toothed wheel 37, but in normal operation only the pawl 19 is in engagement with the toothed wheel, the pawl 48 being held out of operative position and is only moved into operative engagement with the toothed wheel when it is desired to locate the toothed wheel and the arm 40 to move together for manual manipulation, as will more fully hereinafter appear.

On the frame 2 a bracket 50 is secured and provides rotary mounting for a disk 51, the latter having a threaded stud 52 pro jecting therefrom through the bracket 50 and adapted to receive a nut 53 to clamp the disk at any position of rotary adjustment.

On this disk 50 an eccentric pin is fixed and on this pin 5% a lever 55) has pivotal mounting. This lever 55 is limited in its movement downwardly and rearwardly by a fixed arm 56 on frame 2, and a laterally projecting pin 57 on the free end of said lever 55 acts as a stop to limit the clownward movement of arm 40.

On the pivoted end of the lever 55 a lug 58 is secured and is located in the path of movement of a finger 59 on the member 31. A forwardly projecting bracket 60 is fixed to frame 2 and carries at its forward end a pivoted catch 61. This catch 61 depends from its pivot, illustrated by 62, and has a ledge or shoulder thereon adapted to support the arm 10 in horizontal. position. One face of this or tch bl is beveledor inclined, as shown at 64, so as to allow the arm to ride upwardly and swing the catch laterally, after which the catch will fall by gravity to position under the arm and hold it. A handle 55 is provided on the catch (51 to manually move the same out of the path of the arm to allow the latter to fall.

The operation is as follows:

Assuming the arm 40 to be in elevated position supported by the catch 61, and the pawl 48 to be out of engagement with the toothed wheel 37, which is its normal position, the automatic operation is as follows: First, the operator manually moves the catch 61 to one side to allow the arm a0 to fall. This movement of the arm 40 is first comparatively slow and increases or accelerates as the movement of the arm progresses downwardly. Hence, the initial movement of the arm will impart a slow movement to the shaft 12 and also to the shaft 9 to turn the D roller slowly until the work is properly positioned under the D roller, and when at this point the arm will begin to approach its lowermost position. As it does so, the cam face 34 on the member 31 engages the fixed cam face 35 and causes the member 3 to move longitudinally of shaft 12, bringing the clutch members 30 and 29 togetherand thereby giving a direct motor drive to the shafts 12 and 9 so as to continue the operation at the desired speed. The cam 34 will function to bring the clutch members 30 and 29 together, thereby giving a direct motor drive. Discontinuance for less than a complete turn causes clutch members 2-10 and 29 to disengage during that part of the turn the cam runs off cam 34-.

The downward movement of the arm ell) is limited by the pin 57 011 lever and at the proper time the finger 59 engages the lug 58 and swings the lever 55 upwardly, carrying with it the arm 40 which automatically swings the catch 61 to one side and is then caught by the catch. time, the linger 59 rides past the lug 58 and the lever falls by gravity to its normal set position. At such time as the flange 33 rides off of the face of the ram member 36, the spring 32 will separate the clutch members 29 and 30 and automatically stop the transmission of motion to the press.

at is of extreme importance that the mo tion first imparted to the roller 8 be relatively slow, at least until the work is properly under the roller. This is done at pres- At such cut by manual skill, otherwise the work will be imperfect. With our improved apparatus the initial slow movement of the arm and gradual acceleration thereof gives the same effect automatically and with absolute precision, so that the work is perfectly and uniformly done without liability of imperfection in the work due to manual manipulation.

Various slight changes and alterations might be made in the general form of the parts described without departing from our invention, and hence we do not limit ourselves to the precise details set forth but consider ourselves at liberty to make such slightchanges and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

We claim 1. An operating means for roller printing presses, comprising a member movable by gravity when permitted means for holding said member against movement, a continuously moving drive shaft, and means operated by the movement of said member in one direction to couple the drive shaft to the operating means of the press after the member has moved for a predetermined distance.

2. An operating means for roller printing presses, comprising an arm adapted to fall by gravity and initiate the operation of the press, and power transmitting means caused to operate when the arm reaches a predetermined position.

3. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a shaft adapted to be coupled to the operating shaft of a printing press, a drive shaft, a clutch normally open and adapted to connect said shafts, an arm pivotally mounted on the shaft and adapted to move downwardly by gravity and imparting an initial operation to the press, and means operated by the arm when the latter reaches a predetermined position to cause the clutch members to engage.

l. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a shaft adapted to be coupled to the operating shaft of a printing press, a drive shaft, a clutch normally open and adapted to connect said shafts, an arm pivotally mounted on the shaft and adapted to move downwardly by gravity and impart an initial operation to the press, means operated by the arm when the latter reaches a predetermined position to cause the clutch members to engage, and means for automatically returning the arm to normal position.

5. An apparatus of the character described,comprising a shaft adapted to be coupled to the operating shaft of a printing press, a drive shaft, a clutch normally open and adapted to connect said shafts, an arm pivotally mounted on the shaft and adapted to move downwardly by gravity and impart an initial operation to the press, means operated by the arm when the latter reaches a predetermined position to cause the clutch members to engage, a pivotally mounted lever adapted to limit the movement of the arm in one direction, a catch, and means operated by the movement of the first-mentioned shaft to engage the lever and return the arm to the said position held by the catch.

6. A press operating apparatus including a frame, a pair of alined shafts in the frame, clutch members on the shafts, one of said shafts adapted to be operatively connected to a roller press, a toothed wheel on the shaft adapted to be connected with the press, a motor transmitting continuous motion to the other of said shafts, a housing on the toothed wheel pivotally mounted on the shaft, an arm fixed to the housing, an adjustable weight on the arm, a member movable with the toothed wheel and having a cam face at one end, a fixed cam on the frame adapted to engage said cam face and move the clutch members together when the shaft is turned a predetermined distance by the downward movement of the arm, and means for returning the arm automatically to set position.

7. A press operating apparatus, including a frame, a pair of alined shafts in the frame, clutch members on the shafts, one of said shafts adapted to be operatively connected to a roller press, a toothed wheel on the shaft adapted to be connected with the press, a motor transmitting continuous motion to the other of said shafts, a housing on the toothed wheel pivotally mounted on the shaft, an arm fixed to the housing, an adjustable weight on the arm, a member movable with the toothed wheel and having a cam face at one end, a fixed cam on the frame adapted to engage said cam face and move the clutch members together when the shaft is turned a predetermined distance by the downward movement of the arm, a pair of pawls carried by the arm and en gaging the toothed wheel, said pawls when both are in engagement with the wheel permitting a manual movement of the wheel with the arm, and when one of said pawls is in engagement with the wheel the latter functions as a ratchet to turn freely in one direction and move with the arm in the other direction.

JOSEPH A. WILLIAMS. JOHN WILLIAMS, JR. 

